mendoliscious 11/3

Mother mendo looked favorably upon me yesterday.
 Put in on the northend and didnt see anyone on the lake. Figured they were stacked up in crappie cove and already into the stripers.  I headed to vinegar point and cruised the shoreline by the submerged trees. Was dragging a minner and slinging a plastic grub when the first victim was taken. 29'' and a little thicker and stronger than the fish I had at BAM.
 Later there was a gathering of yaks at vinegar and Guitarzan was putting on a clinic. I witnessed 1 of his takedowns that was very big and very violent but tragically broke off. I would have loved to have seen what fish that could have hit that hard and fast.
I had this feeling about barn cove. It always feels fishy to me, Ive witnessed big boils there, and I know Mr Hopper has taken more than a few victims in that area. Blasted over and as soon as I slowed to a troll I nabbed another on the live minner. (This fish had some type of deformity or mass that is visible in the picture.) A short time later I took a largemouth that wasnt worthy of photo op.
 It felt like it was on but it was getting later and I wanted to fish more with the others before I had to go, so I headed back. I was digging in hard to get up some momentum when another stripper hammered the minner. This fish was made of some sturdy stock and the best striper fight Ive experienced to date. Very exciting!
The vanity mount got some use and I ended up about 50% on viewable pictures. Some day ill post my greatest misses.
All fish were released unharmed.
  Sorry that I didnt get to see everyone on the water and it was great to see those that I did.
I hope everyone had as much fun as I and those who stayed had a epic adventure.

Nice work there Terry, and nice report!

What's the deformity, Terry? I didn't know what to look for, other than the broken stripes.

Howard

my 2nd striper   6'' from the tip of the tail you can see the lump which was bulging on the otherside as well.    sorry I had to use lump and bulging in the same sentence

Nice catch Hydrospider.
I have caught a black bass with the same kind of deformity in the spring and wondered what it was. It was like a big water bag. Ugly!

nice fishes, lumps and all

Sorry to have missed seeing you on the water Terry. I put in late afternoon at the south end. Fished boils all by myself till dark. Two on trolled Kastmasters and two on popper fly. I was yelling with joy and still don't think anyone heard me.
The food and company in camp was great fun. Morning grub was good too.
I appreciate the coffee.
Sorry I missed out on the morning run. After I left camp I realized I really didn't have that much time left. Boils are early in the day anyways and I didn't feel like soaking a minnow. So I went home for a bike ride to burn off the previous nights' calories. Then watched the Patriots win another game. Got more calories to burn...
Bueller?

my 2nd striper   6'' from the tip of the tail you can see the lump which was bulging on the otherside as well.    sorry I had to use lump and bulging in the same sentence

Probably not enough bran in it's diet.
Nice report Terry. When i get back from San Diego be ready to guide me on the Clear.

Nice job boys! I too was busy burning calories on the new MTB...gotta get into some kind of shape.

Mendo was fun. The water was glass all weekend, lots of bait schools on the top, caught 3 stripers Sat, released one, kept one and the other went on the grill. Got 3 or 4 take downs that got loose, and one insane hit that snapped line today, but ended up with nada, 'cept the nice fish Dustin gave me, tanx Brudda! Damn Im tired.
Sean, a bike trek sounds great up there, im game.

Bring your bikes next time.  Outstanding single track, I never see another soul on it.

Great company, great "speedo" weather and had another "meatfest" at the campsite. Thanks to Kiel for feeding the hungry with Korean style BBQ spare ribs over RICE We also some fresh terriyaki flavored striper donated by Ben. I brought some black bean chicken and Sumo Ben brought some delicious beef stew.

Had a great day fishing, caught my 2 stripers (one was gifted to Andy) within an hour - caught it on my way to Vinegar Point. I also met two of the infamous members of the Mendo Crew  I tried very hard to try to avoid them because of their "unfriendly nature" however, they seemed to be in a friendly state of mind....... Andy Kicking Bass offered me his leftover minnows before he left....which was a really kind gesture....Dan was also kind enough to take OTW pics of me and my catch....but so far, he hasn't posted the pics.....yet Hint ...hint...

I joined the rest of the crew - Dustin rockhopper, Guitarzan Ben, Sumo Ben and Terry the human spider as I landed my yak on vinegar point and started fishing for SMB / LMB, as I walking along the shoreline - fan casting a saber tail plastic bait and all of a sudden, the rod that was on my yak, partially sitting on the shoreline, was on full bendo  It started to drag my yak off the bank and into the lake  Lucky for me, (thanks to my Olympic running skillzz) I got to the yak before it was too late. I got hold of the rod and caught and released striper #3. Watta day

Congrats to Sumo Ben for Getting his first limit of stripers (on his second trip to Mendo)  The "madness" has claimed another victim 

Forgot to mention - Terry, the striper with a lump near it's tail...I caught that same fish at crappie cove earlier in the year  I'll see if I can dig up the pic.....

my 2nd striper   6'' from the tip of the tail you can see the lump which was bulging on the otherside as well.    sorry I had to use lump and bulging in the same sentence

Probably not enough bran in it's diet.
Nice report Terry. When i get back from San Diego be ready to guide me on the Clear.

Tote,
Are you fishing in SD?  the bridgeport posse is down there if you want some company on the water.

Ive got "the symbiote" in the garage for a few days making some repairs. Hopefully ill be fully operational when you get back for a bucketmouth hunt.

Another spectacular week-end camping with the fellas. A terrible Saturday morning hang-over had me in bed 'til almost 10:00AM, so I didn't make it onto the lake until almost 2:00PM on Saturday. I launched from the North side and paddled South towards Vinegar Point. As I was rounding the point I had a big takedown that let go before I could get my rod out of the forward holder. A little while later I picked up the striper that Terry posted the picture of (released) - thanks bro! - and just before calling it a day I picked up a small (~16") LMB.

Spent another great evening at the campsight with Joel, the two Bens (nice to meet you Sumo), Kiel (nice to finally get to fish with you), and Obie Juan. We grubbed down on some bomb Korean BBQ, steamed rice, fresh terriyaki striper, black bean chicken, and some deliscious beef pot roast. All we were missing was some dessert, and I'll be sure to bring that next time!

We woke up Sunday morning to another feast (yeah, we were definitely "toughing it") of garlic rice provided by Chef Kiel, then we packed up and headed over to the South ramp. Ben (Guitarzan), Kiel, and myself headed North towards V.P. and Kiel got nailed right away and landed a nice striper. On the way to V.P. I got tagged twice and lost both (I'm blaming it on a dull hook!), and Ben also hooked and lost two or three fish. I ended up catching the striper pictured below, which I gave to Guitarzan.

After fishing we grubbed down AGAIN on some turkey sandwhiches and some man dogs.

Another great week-end in Mendo Land!